Opening Skinners Box

Reference Information:

Title: Opening Skinner's Box

Author: Lauren Slater

Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company (2008)

 

Summary: In Slater's novel Coming of Age in Samoa, she discusses several different famous psychologists, giving both scientific and anecdotal data about their research. Each chapter is devoted to a specific scientist, and general proceeds through times in a chrnological fashion. In the beginning of the novel, Slater started with relatively simple concepts, such as learned behavior and operant conditioning. However, as the book progressed, Slater's topics became more complex, moving onto subjects such addiction, the formation of memories, and cognitive dissonance.

Slater's approach to each subject was unique for a scholarly work. She would normally begin with some sort of anecdotal story, or a bit of background about the scientist's personal life. Then, as the chapter progressed, she would delve into the specific details of the experiment. After fully explaining the impact of the research, she would generally move onto a personal interview with a family member of the researcher, a scientist who worked on the experiment with the researcher, or someone who was actually part of the experiment.

This method was particularly useful in creating a memorable effect on the reader. After presenting a large amount of qualitative information about the researcher, she would assault the reader with a emotional appeal, centered around a personal, subjective collection of qualitative data. However, despite this approach Slater did a good job of staying relatively impartial, allowing the reader to make up their own mind about the more controversial researchers.

Discussion: Slater's novel was a roller coaster of opinions for me. During the professional portions on the experiments, Slater was an excellent writer, detailing the relevant portions without overloading the reader with useless knowledge. However, for the portions of the book where Slater did her interviews, the professional atmosphere suddenly dropped, replaced with irrelevant comments on the Victoria's Secret catalog the interviewee has lying around.

Overall, I walked away from the book with an overall positive feel, but there were several portions that rubbed me the wrong way. Slater needed to decide if she was working on a professional academic work, or a non-fiction, but for entertainment page turner. The tone shift was highly distracting, but it did not completely take away from the information she was trying to imbue on the user.